In Brief

IN BRIEF

January 25, 2009

Girl, 7, struck by car in Northwest Baltimore dies

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A 7-year-old girl who was hit by a car while crossing a busy Northwest Baltimore intersection with her mother died yesterday, police said. Niya Bolling had been in critical condition at Sinai Hospital and had been deemed brain dead since she was struck by a car Thursday at Park Heights and West Belvedere avenues, Baltimore police spokeswoman Nicole Monroe said. Niya's mother, Sonia Savage, 26, remained in critical condition at Sinai last night, according to a hospital spokeswoman. Monroe said the Police Department's accident investigation unit has preliminarily attributed the accident to pedestrian error.

Nicole Fuller

Man, 53, gets 11 years in identity theft scheme

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A 53-year-old Baltimore man was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison Friday for his role in an identity theft and mail fraud scheme that affected more than 250 victims and lasted nearly 30 years, the Maryland U.S. attorney's office said. According to the plea agreement, Loquann Johnson and his co-conspirators targeted neighborhoods with outdoor mailboxes, reaching in to grab the mail under the pretense of distributing advertising fliers. The group stole checks, credit cards, tax refunds and mail-rental DVDs. They created phony identification cards so they could cash the checks, dressing in various costumes to impersonate their victims. Johnson is responsible for at least $400,000 in losses. Two co-conspirators previously pleaded guilty in the scheme; they are scheduled for sentencing in March.

Tricia Bishop

25-year sentence imposed in 2008 arson in Pasadena

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A Baltimore man was sentenced to 25 years in prison for throwing a Molotov cocktail and damaging five cars and a home in Pasadena last year. Charles E. Maynard, 50, pleaded guilty to second-degree arson and manufacturing and using a destructive device to burn his nephew's home and car, according to court documents and Anne Arundel County Fire Department spokesman Battalion Chief Matthew Tobia. Maynard threw a water bottle filled with a flammable substance into his nephew's Nissan Altima on Feb. 10, broke the windows of two other cars and set another on fire. The heat from the burning car damaged another vehicle and melted the siding of a nearby home. Maynard's nephew, Stanley Jones, 28, told police that the man was jealous because his mother had made payments on Jones' car, according to the documents.